* image These past few months have been busy for our family, especially since our oldest joined a local swim team. Between juggling our work schedules and balancing school with practices... we're all pretty wiped out. Although it's a lot of work, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. Preparing the holiday meal for our family fills my heart with joy, and I can't wait to get started. To make things easier for me, I don't deviate much from our first Thanksgiving as a family. The dishes I make are familiar ones, and the recipes for them live at my fingertips. Keeping the same menu year after year means I don't have to spend time researching recipes or planning a new one. Here are my tried-and-true Thanksgiving recipes, as well as my prep timeline for the big day!
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Growing up, Fluffernutter sandwiches didn't make a regular appearance in our lunch bags. Plain, old peanut butter sandwiches were more my mother's style. We had to beg and plead to get her to buy a jar of Marshmallow Fluff, and then we'd fight over who got the privilege of scooping out the first spoonful of the gooey treat. Needless to say, I have a soft spot in my heart for the combination of peanut butter and marshmallow.
I was obsessed with the idea of turning that combination into a cookie. When I finally unpacked my new KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer -- isn't it pretty? -- that obsession manifested itself into action. Sure, I could have chosen a more complicated recipe to make in order to break in our beautiful wedding gift, but I didn't want to wait to use it any longer.
(It arrived before our wedding in August, but I didn't use it until December.)
After adding all of the ingredients to the mixer bowl and watching the cookie dough come together in no time at all, I just stood and stared in amazement.
How had I lived without a stand mixer for so long?!?
I mean, I'm not saying that using a hand-mixer to prepare the dough was an incredible hardship or anything. It's just that the stand-mixer produced a much nicer texture, not gritty at all.
I was in love.
Now, you're probably wondering why I used regular marshmallows rather than actual Marshmallow Fluff for these cookies. I thought about it. Really, I did. But the longer I thought about, the more it made sense to use marshmallows.
Plus, putting the cookies back in the oven to toast the marshmallows added an extra depth of flavor to what is a relatively simple cookie. I hope you enjoy them!
If you have a soft spot for Fluffernutter sandwiches, then you're going to love these cookies!
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 12 MinTotal time: 27 Min
Ingredients
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon salted butter, softened
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Marshmallows, cut in half
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Put butter and peanut butter in the bowl of a stand-mixer. Beat on high for 30 seconds. Turn off the mixture.
Add the sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat until combined, starting on a low speed before increasing the speed to prevent the dry ingredients from flying out of the bowl.
With the mixer running, add the egg and vanilla. Beat until combined.
Lower the speed and slowly add the flour. Beat until combined.
If the dough is too soft, cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. With your thumb, create an indentation in the center of each ball of dough.
Bake for 9 minutes. Remove from the oven and place half of a marshmallow into the center of each cookie. Put back into the oven and bake for an additional 2-3 minutes or until the marshmallows are golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire baking rack to cool.
